Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /518 of 520

Number theory Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it

Suppose q1,q2,...q_1,q_2,... is an infinite sequence of integers satisfying the following two conditions:
(a) mnm - n divides qmqnq_m - q_n for m>n0m>n \geq 0
(b) There is a polynomial PP such that qn<P(n)|q_n|<P(n) for all nn.
Prove that there is a polynomial QQ such that qn=Q(n)q_n = Q(n) for each nn.

Solution

Step 1: Suppose PP has degree dd. Let QQ be the polynomial of degree at most dd with Q(x)=qxQ(x)=q_x for 0xd0\leq x\leq d. Since the qxq_x are all integers, QQ has rational coefficients, and there exists kk so that kQkQ has integer coefficients. Then mnkQ(m)kQ(n)m-n|kQ(m)-kQ(n) for all m,nN0m,n\in \mathbb N_0.
Step 2: We show that QQ is the desired polynomial.
Let x>nx>n be given. Now
kqxkqm(modxm) for all integers m[0,d]kq_x\equiv kq_m\pmod{x-m}\text{ for all integers }m\in[0,d]
Since kQ(x)kQ(x) satisfies these relations as well, and kqm=kQ(m)kq_m=kQ(m),
kqxkQ(x)(modxm) for all integers m[0,d]kq_x\equiv kQ(x)\pmod{x-m}\text{ for all integers }m\in[0,d]
and hence
kqxkQ(x)(modlcm(x,x1,,xd)).  (1)kq_x\equiv kQ(x)\pmod{\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-d)}. \;(1)
Now
\begin{align*} \text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i-1)&=\text{lcm}[\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i),x-i-1]\\ &=\frac{\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i)(x-i-1)}{\text{gcd}[\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i),(x-i-1)]}\\ &\geq \frac{\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i)(x-i-1)}{\text{gcd}[x(x-1)\cdots(x-i),(x-i-1)]}\\ &\geq \frac{\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-i)(x-i-1)}{(i+1)!} \end{align*}
so by induction lcm(x,x1,,xd)x(x1)(xd)d!(d1)!1!\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-d)\geq \frac{x(x-1)\cdots (x-d)}{d!(d-1)!\cdots 1!}. Since P(x),Q(x)P(x), Q(x) have degree dd, for large enough xx (say x>Lx>L) we have Q(x)±x(x1)(xd)kd!(d1)!1!>P(x)\left|Q(x)\pm\frac{x(x-1)\cdots (x-d)}{kd!(d-1)!\cdots 1!}\right|>P(x). By (1) kqxkq_x must differ by a multiple of lcm(x,x1,,xd)\text{lcm}(x,x-1,\ldots, x-d) from kQ(x)kQ(x); hence qxq_x must differ by a multiple of x(x1)(xd)kd!(d1)!1!\frac{x(x-1)\cdots (x-d)}{kd!(d-1)!\cdots 1!} from Q(x)Q(x), and for x>Lx>L we must have qx=Q(x)q_x=Q(x).
Now for any yy we have kQ(y)kQ(x)kqxkqy(modxy)kQ(y)\equiv kQ(x)\equiv kq_x \equiv kq_y\pmod{x-y} for any x>Lx>L. Since xyx-y can be arbitrarily large, we must have Q(y)=qyQ(y)=q_y, as needed.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.